Dilemmas and Optimization of Third-Party Assessment System in Chinese Fair Competition Review

The current predominant self-review mechanism by policy-making bodies suffers from deficiencies such as insufficient motivations, limited review capabilities, and weak external supervision. Third-party assessment, characterized by independence and specialization, is designed to mitigate these shortcomings. However, the implementation of third-party assessment faces challenges too. This paper intends to improve the third-party assessment system and to realize the legislative purpose of the system. Based on social research, discussions and exchanges with relevant parties, and the existing research results, this paper analyzes the challenges and possible optimization measures for the third-party assessment. The challenges include repulsion from policy-making bodies, insufficient independence of assessment bodies, disparity of assessment quality, and limited application of assessment outcomes. Possible optimization measures include promoting fair competition culture, increasing the acceptance of third-party assessment from policy-making bodies, enhancing the quality of third-party assessment, clarifying the relationship between policy-making bodies and assessment bodies, ensuring the independence of third-party assessments, and promoting the application of assessment results.

Galerkin-Bernstein Approximations for the System of Third-Order Nonlinear Boundary Value Problems

This paper is devoted to find the numerical solutions of one dimensional general nonlinear system of third-order boundary value problems (BVPs) for the pair of functions using Galerkin weighted residual method. We derive mathematical formulations in matrix form, in detail, by exploiting Bernstein polynomials as basis functions. A reasonable accuracy is found when the proposed method is used on few examples. At the end of the study, a comparison is made between the approximate and exact solutions, and also with the solutions of the existing methods. Our results converge monotonically to the exact solutions. In addition, we show that the derived formulations may be applicable by reducing higher order complicated BVP into a lower order system of BVPs, and the performance of the numerical solutions is satisfactory. .

Black Holes and the Third Law of Thermodynamics Revisited

Black holes contradict the Nernst-Planck (N/P) version of the 3rd law of thermodynamics, but agree with its unattainability (U) version. This happens without contradiction, because the N/P and U versions are not equivalent, namely, N/P implies U but U does not imply N/P. So, black holes obey the weaker version of the 3rd law, but not the stronger one.

Accuracy of Trans-Cerebellar Diameter and Placental Thickness in Third Trimesteric Pregnant Women for Calculation of Gestational Age: A Cross Sectional Study

Background: Accurate determination of gestational age has become important for deciding the appropriate time for termination of the pregnancy as well as to monitor the fetal growth during the entire period of pregnancy. Objective: The aim of the study was to assess whether the trans-cerebellar diameter, placental thickness or combining both of them is more accurate for assessment of gestational age in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy. Patients and Methods: This is a cross sectional study conducted at outpatient Clinic and Obstetric ward, Ain Shams University Maternity Hospital, over a period of six months from March 2019 to September 2019. One hundred pregnant women were recruited according to inclusion criteria either from outpatient clinic or were admitted in obstetric ward Ain Shams Maternity Hospital to find out the most accurate fetal biometric measurement in the third trimester either trans-cerebellar diameter placental thickness or both compared to reliable LMP (last menstrual period) dates confirmed by crown rump length (CRL) in the first trimester. Results: Trans-cerebellar diameter mean ± SD was 46.0 ± 3.5 with range 38.2 - 51.7. The mean of placental thickness was 39.6 ± 7.1 with range 22.8 - 54.3. Placental thickness had highest determination (0.813) for last menstrual period followed by trans-cerebellar diameter (0.802). Combining trans-cerebellar diameter and placental thickness increased determination (0.902) for last menstrual period. Conclusion: Combined use of trans-cerebellar diameter and placental thickness in the third trimester of pregnancy is a reliable indicator for gestational age in women whose last menstrual period is unreliable or unknown, but placental thickness had higher accuracy than trans-cerebellar diameter.

Existence and Uniqueness Results for a Fully Third-Order Boundary Value Problem

The boundary value problems of the third-order ordinary differential equation have many practical application backgrounds and their some special cases have been studied by many authors. However, few scholars have studied the boundary value problems of the complete third-order differential equations u′′′(t) = f (t,u(t),u′(t),u′′(t)). In this paper, we discuss the existence and uniqueness of solutions and positive solutions of the fully third-order ordinary differential equation on [0,1] with the boundary condition u(0) = u′(1) = u′′(1) = 0. Under some inequality conditions on nonlinearity f some new existence and uniqueness results of solutions and positive solutions are obtained.

Efficient Decomposition Shooting Method for Solving Third-Order Boundary Value Problems

The present paper proposes a mathematical method to numerically treat a class of third-order linear Boundary Value Problems (BVPs). This method is based on the combination of the Adomian Decomposition Method (ADM) and, the modified shooting method. A complete derivation of the proposed method has been provided, in addition to its numerical implementation and, validation via the utilization of the Runge-Kutta method and, other existing methods. The method has been applied to diverse test problems and turned out to perform remarkably. Lastly, the simulated numerical results have been graphically illustrated and, also supported by some absolute error comparison tables.

We Live on a Small Space Comet: The Third Extraordinary Motion of Earth towards the North Pole and Its Various Effects

The idea of research started with a crazy imaginary theory in the field of astrogeography, saying: We often taught ourselves and then convinced the students that the planet Earth moves despite not feeling the vibrations of traffic, and we listed successive scientific confirmations to indicate the rotation of the planet in a regular movement around its axis once every 24 hours, and it is running in another second movement around the sun once every 365¼ days, so are they only two movements, no more?! Is it possible for him to run at a regular speed in an additional direction?

Analysis of third and one-third harmonic generation in lossy waveguides

A comprehensive study on the requirements for the highly efficient third harmonic generation(THG) and its inverse process, one-third harmonic generation(OTHG), in lossy waveguides is proposed. The field intensity restrictions for both THG and OTHG caused by loss are demonstrated. The effective relative phase ranges, supporting the positive growth of signal fields of THG and OTHG are shrunken by the loss. Furthermore, it turns out that the effective relative phase ranges depend on the intensities of the interacting fields. At last, a modified definition of coherent length in loss situation, which evaluates the phase matching degree more precisely, is proposed by incorporating the shrunken relative phase range and the nonlinear phase mismatch. These theoretical analysis are valuable for guiding the experimental designs for highly efficient THG and OTHG.

Research on China Third Language Learners＇ Metalinguistic Awareness

This study investigated the general situation of metalinguistic awareness of third language learners in Chinese universities.Data analyses showed that the level of metalinguistic awareness in those learners was significantly higher than that of second language learners.And learning a third language can improve metalinguistic awareness.

Prognostic factors of refractory NSCLC patients receiving anlotinib hydrochloride as the third-or further-line treatment

Objective:Anlotinib hydrochloride is a multitarget tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets vascular endothelial growth factor receptor,fibroblast growth factor receptor,platelet-derived growth factor receptor,c-Kit,and c-MET;therefore,it exhibits both antitumor and anti-angiogenetic activities.A phase III trial has shown that anlotinib improved progression-free survival(PFS)and overall survival(OS)in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC),who presented with progressive disease or intolerance after standard chemotherapy.This study aimed to analyze the characteristics of patients receiving anlotinib treatment to determine the dominant populations who are fit for the treatment.Methods:Data were collected from March 2015 to January 2017 from a randomized,double-blind,placebo-controlled,multicenter,phase III trial of anlotinib(ALTER0303).A total of 437 patients were enrolled and randomly allocated(2:1)to the anlotinib and placebo groups.Kaplan–Meier analysis and log-rank test were performed to compare PFS and OS.Cox proportional hazards model was adopted for multivariate prognostic analysis.Results:Multivariate analysis indicated that high post-therapeutic peripheral blood granulocyte/lymphocyte ratio and elevated alkaline phosphatase levels were independent risk factors for PFS.Meanwhile,elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone,blood glucose,and triglyceride levels;hypertension;and hand–foot syndrome were independent protective factors of PFS.High posttherapeutic peripheral blood granulocyte/lymphocyte ratio,an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group(ECOG)score≥2,and the sum of the maximal target lesion length at baseline were independent risk factors of OS,and hypertriglyceridemia was an independent protective factor of OS.Conclusions:This study preliminarily explored the possible factors that affected PFS and OS after anlotinib treatment in patients with advanced refractory NSCLC,and the baseline characteristics of the therapeutically dominant populations were then identified.

The third-party regulation on food safety in China:A review

Stakeholders in the field of food safety management in China can be classified into three categories, government, food producers （farmers and enterprises）, and the third-party regulatory bodies. The third-party regulation has experienced rapid development in past twenty years, and recently received considerable attention from consumers and the central government. This paper provides a review about the development, problems and future trend of the third-party regulation on food safety in China. To be specific, five forms of the third-party regulation are assessed, including media exposure, the third-party certification, regulation by consumer associations, social movements promoted by non-governmental organiza- tions （NGOs）, and regulation by industry associations. The study concludes that media and consumer associations are the major players in the third-party regulation and are highly repudiated among customers. The food certification industry has developed rapidly, but is now facing crises of confidence among consumers because of its lack of self-regulation. NGOs and industry associations still remain in the early development stages of food safety management, and therefore, are of little importance in current regulatory bodies.

MULTIPLE POSITIVE SOLUTIONS OF SINGULAR THIRD-ORDER PERIODIC BOUNDARY VALUE PROBLEM

This paper deals with the singular nonlinear third-order periodic boundary value problem u'' + p(3)u = f (t, u), 0 less than or equal to t less than or equal to 2pi, with u((i)) (0) = u((i)) (2pi), i = 0, 1, 2, where p is an element of (Graphics) and f is singular at t = 0, t = 1 and u = 0. Under suitable weaker conditions than those of [1], it is proved by constructing a special cone in C[0, 2pi] and employing the fixed point index theory that the problem has at least one or at least two positive solutions.

Clinicopathological characteristics of clinical early gastric cancer in the upper-third stomach

AIM: To elucidate the clinicopathological characteristics of clinically early gastric cancer in the upper-third stomach and to clarify treatment precautions.METHODS: A total of 683 patients with clinical early gastric cancer were enrolled in this retrospective study, 128 of whom had gastric cancer in the upper-third stomach(U group). All patients underwent a double contrast barium examination, endoscopy, and computed tomography(CT), and were diagnosed preoperatively based on the findings obtained. The clinicopathological features of these patients were compared with those of patients with gastric cancer in the middle- and lower-third stomach(ML group). We also compared clinicopathological factors between accurate-diagnosis and under-diagnosis groups in order to identify factors affecting the accuracy of a preoperative diagnosis of tumor depth.RESULTS: Patients in the U group were older(P = 0.029), had a higher ratio of males to females(P = 0.015), and had more histologically differentiated tumors(P = 0.007) than patients in the ML group. A clinical under-diagnosis occurred in 57 out of 683 patients(8.3%), and was more frequent in the U group than in the ML group(16.4% vs 6.3%, P < 0.0001). Therefore, the rates of lymph node metastasis and lymphatic invasion were slightly higher in the U group than in the ML group(P = 0.071 and 0.082, respectively). An under-diagnosis was more frequent in histologically undifferentiated tumors(P = 0.094) and in those larger than 4 cm(P = 0.024). The medianfollow-up period after surgery was 56 mo(range, 1-186 mo). Overall, survival and disease-specific survival rates were significantly lower in the U group than in the ML group(P = 0.016 and 0.020, respectively). However, limited operation-related cancer recurrence was not detected in the U group in the present study.CONCLUSION: Clinical early gastric cancer in the upper-third stomach has distinguishable characteristics that increase the risk of a clinical under-diagnosis, especially in patients with larger or undifferentiated tumors.

Impacted Lower Third Molar Fused with a Supernumerary Tooth—Diagnosis and Treatment Planning Using Cone-Beam Computed Tomography

This paper reported a case of fusion between an impacted third molar and a supernumerary tooth, in which a surgical intervention was carried out, with the objective of removing the dental elements. The panoramic radiography was complemented by the Donovan＇s radiographic technique; but because of the proximity of the dental element to the mandibular ramus, it was not possible to have a final fusion diagnosis. Hence, the Cone-Beam Computed Tomography--which provides precise three- dimensional information--was used to determinate the fusion diagnosis and also to help in the surgical planning. In this case report we observed that the periapical, occlusal and panoramic were not able to show details which could only be examined through the cone-beam computed tomo- graphy.

THE SHARP ESTIMATE OF THE THIRD HOMOGENEOUS EXPANSION FOR A CLASS OF STARLIKE MAPPINGS OF ORDER α ON THE UNIT POLYDISK IN C^n

In this article, first, a sufficient condition for a starlike mapping of order a f（x） defined on the unit ball in a complex Banach space is given. Second, the sharp estimate of the third homogeneous expansion for f is established as well, where f（z） = （f1（z）, f2（z）,..., fn（z））＇ is a starlike mapping of order a or a normalized biholomorphic starlike mapping defined on the unit polydisk in Cn, and D2fk（0）（z2） /2i= zk（∑l=1^b akzzl）, k = 2t l=1 k = 1, 2,..., n. Our result states that the Bieberbaeh conjecture in several complex variables （the case of the third homogeneous expansion for starlike mappings of order α and biholomorphic starlike mappings） is partly proved.

Influences of solid particles on the formation of the third phase crud during solvent extraction

The influences of solid particles in leach solution on the formation of the third phase crud during solvent extraction of copper were studied. Analyzed from the point of view of pH value and surface tension, the study results showed that the solid particle is one of the most important contributors for the formation of the third phase crud. During solvent extraction, if the pH value was greater than 2.30, the number of solid particles in the mother solution increased, in which case the possibility of forming the third phase crud could also increase, and the interface tension value might grow in pace with the quantity of the third phase crud.

Role of third molars in orthodontics

The role of third molars in the oral cavity has been extensively studied over the years. Literature includes numerous diagnostic and treatment alternatives regarding the third molars. However, an issue that has not been discussed at the same level is their involvement in orthodontic therapy. The aim of this study is to present a review of the contemporary literature regarding the most broadly discussed aspects of the multifactorial role of third molars in orthodontics and which are of general dental interest too.

Third-Molar Development in Relation to Chronologic Age in Young Adults of Central China

The estimation of chronologic age based on the stages of third-molar development was evaluated by using the eight stages （A–H） method of Demirjian and the third-molar development was compared, in terms of sex and age, with results of previous studies. The samples consisted of 291 orthopantomograms from young Chinese subjects of known chronologic age and sex （including 139 males with a mean age of 14.67±3.62 y and 152 females with a mean age of 14.85±3.70 y）. Statistical analysis was performed by employing the Mann-Whitney U-test and the t-test. Regression analysis was conducted to obtain regression formulas for calculating dental age from the chronologic age. Our results showed statistically significant differences （P〈0.05） in third-molar development between males and females, at the calcification stages D, E and H. And a strong correlation was found between age and third-molar development in both males （r2=0.65） and females （r2=0.61）. New equations （Age=8.76＋1.32 Development stage） for estimating chronologic age were derived. It is concluded that third-molar genesis took place earlier in males than in females. The use of third molars as a developmental marker is appropriate in young adults of Central China. The formula obtained in the present study can be used as a guide for estimation of dental maturity and a standard for age estimation for young adults of Central China.

Caudate lobectomy by the third porta hepatis anatomical method: a study of 16 cases

BACKGROUND: The treatment for primary tumor in the caudate lobe of the liver is difficult because of its unique anatomical location. This study was undertaken to improve operative techniques and results by a new anatomical method of caudate lobectomy. METHODS: Clinical data of 16 patients who had had caudate lobectomy for the liver from January 1996 to November 2004 were retrospectively analyzed. The third porta hepatis anatomical method was performed in all 16 patients. Operative time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative complications were recorded. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates of 13 patients with caudate lobe carcinoma were followed up. Anatomical status, operative routes, operative procedures, liver blood supply were evaluated. RESULTS: The operation was successful in the 16 patients. The operative time was 255±70 minutes and blood loss 740±402 ml. None of the patients died from massive bleeding during the operation, nor did complications such as biliary fistula and liver failure occurred. In 13 patients with malignant tumor, 7 died from recurrence and metastasis of the tumor and the other 6 are still alive at the end of follow-up. One patient has survived for 6 years. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates in the 13 patients were 83.9%, 58.7% and 39.2%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Caudate lobectomy by the third porta hepatis anatomical method can improve operative effect and increase the resection probability for solitary tumor in the caudate lobe.

Recent progress in third-generation low alloy steels developed under M^3 microstructure control

During the past thirty years, two generations of low alloy steels(ferrite/pearlite followed by bainite/martensite) have been developed and widely used in structural applications. The third-generation of low alloy steels is expected to achieve high strength and improved ductility and toughness, while satisfying the new demands for weight reduction, greenness, and safety. This paper reviews recent progress in the development of third-generation low alloy steels with an M^3 microstructure, namely, microstructures with multi-phase, meta-stable austenite, and multi-scale precipitates. The review summarizes the alloy designs and processing routes of microstructure control, and the mechanical properties of the alloys.The stabilization of retained austenite in low alloy steels is especially emphasized. Multi-scale nano-precipitates, including carbides of microalloying elements and Cu-rich precipitates obtained in third-generation low alloy steels, are then introduced. The structure–property relationships of third-generation alloys are also discussed. Finally, the promises and challenges to future applications are explored.